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Based on the novel by Sarah Waters, Fingersmith follows Sue Trinder, a thief, as she and Richard Rivers, aka Gentleman, attempt to con the wealthy heiress Maud Lilly of her vast fortune, which she will only inherit once she is married. Promised a nice chunk of her fortune, Sue is convinced by Gentleman to become Maud's maid in order to nudge her closer to him and persuade her to marry him. However, once they are married, the plan is to throw poor Maud into the insane asylum so that Richard will have control of her fortune. The hitch? Sue falls in love with Maud.

I was surprised by how good this was! Although I had no right to be surprised. Tipping the Velvet, another Sarah Waters adaptation, was also a great series. The casting in this is perfect, and it even managed to surprise me with a big twist. So, uh, don't read up on this series too much if you can help it. Best to not spoil it before you watch it.

Cons:
(1) It is so, so boring. Not in the least bit captivating.
(2) Kristen Stewart
(3) Overacting on Charlize Theron's part
(4) No chemistry amongst the actors
(5) The dwarves seemed to be there simply because they had to be
(6) Bad script
(7) Borrowed too much from movies that are far better
(8) Lacks feeling
(9) You shouldn't prefer Ravenna to Snow White...
(10) Bad dialogue
(11) Cheesy
(12) Takes itself too seriously

I like Charlize Theron, and I think she was one of the only decent things about this movie, but she did overact. Some might say that th…

For some reason I wanted to see this. Maybe because the idea of butter carving appeals to me, even though it's something I'm certain I would have no talent in. Also, Jennifer Garner is in it.

I'm not going to say this was a big disappointment, because my expectations were never that high. It never seemed like a movie that would be great, but as long as it's not painfully dull or disgusting, then I can't complain too much.

Anyhoo, basic plot: Laura Pickler decides to compete in a butter carving contest after her butter carving champion husband, Bob Pickler, is told he can no longer compete. Laura is furious about this since butter is apparently all she has, and butter has made her what she is today. Hmm. Funnily enough, she has the talent to pull it off...except that an even more talented competitor arrives in the form of a ten year-old girl named Destiny. She must not be allowed to win!

It's not particularly funny or original, aside from the butter carving. It…

Oh my god, it's the end of Batman! I admit, I like Batman more than other superheroes, so I wanted this to be good, or even better than good. It turned out to be...good. Perhaps my expectations were heightened after being told that this is "the best in the series" and it has "the most epic, badass ending of any movie series ever". Hmm. Yeah, it isn't, and no it doesn't. Of course it's all a matter of opinion, anyway. I think all three movies are pretty darn good, but "The Dark Knight" is still my favorite. I do need to re-watch the first two, though.

Overall, this is good. The casting is spot-on. I had my doubts about Anne Hathaway, but she turned out to be well cast. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is always good, and he's no different here. Tom Hardy was good, but I wasn't that happy with the character. Not only was he a bit weak as the villain in the end, but I thought his voice was a bit...goofy. I had trouble taking him seriously becaus…

A guest lecturer is strangled after being heckled by an anti-racist group, and once again, everyone is a suspect. I'm waiting for Hathaway to commit murder, I really am. Imagine how awesome that episode could be. It might take this show in a whole new direction! Instead of Hathaway always being lonely and flirting with the next female character of the week, he can be a killer hiding his dark secret while being lonely and flirting with the next female character of the week. Yes!

The main gripe I have, as usual, is predictability. From the whole student-screwing-her-professor storyline to the big reveal of who the killer is, none of it shocks. I even guessed who the murderer was fairly early on. Let's be honest; it's never the main suspect. It's always the person they never thought did it in the first place.

Wow, this movie was funny. I mean I was actually laughing throughout the whole thing, which is...amazing. I don't think it's to everyone's taste, given the raunchy humor and such, but it worked for me. Great casting, too. Will Ferrell is good. He's how you come to expect him to be. But even though he was good, I have to say, Zach Galifiwhateverhisnameis was even better. I might even say he stole the movie. He and Will Ferrell make a good team.

A babysitter is murdered while watching a couple's young son. Once again there's a list of potential suspects. I won't go through the whole list, but can I just complain about a couple of the characters for a minute? Alright, the photographer woman who lives in the studio apartment all alone with no one else in the building.

(1) Must she be a typical artist? I don't just mean the way she looks, I mean her attitude/personality.

(2) How can she be so naive? She tells her assistant that someone has been coming in and out of her apartment when she's gone. She can tell because the chess pieces on the board have been moving. So what does she do? She declines her assistant's offer to stay over, you know, just in case a murderer or rapist is out to get her, which wouldn't be too surprising since one of her subjects was just murdered. She also acts as if it's not a big deal and in no way related to the murder. So...someone is breaking into your apartment, and y…

First of all, Toby Stephens is in this episode. Why am I mentioning this? Because I love Toby Stephens. *sigh* Toby Stephens...

Alright, back to the plot. A pretty, female professor dies, and it looks like suicide. Was it because she was lonely? Was it because a video of her on a dating site went viral and caused her to be embarrassed and harassed? Lewis doesn't think so. He believes she was murdered. But is it just that he's taking it too personally and wants to point the finger at someone? Nah. She was murdered.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of people who might have done it. The journalist whom she rejected? The old classmate who was also her rival? No! Toby Stephens plays him, and I refuse to believe he's a bad guy! Ahem. The pretty blonde boy whose dreams of going to university in America were shattered because of a crappy reference? Well, it could be anyone.

This was a depressing episode, I'll just say that. It also wasn't surprising. You expect that this pe…

I think I mentioned this before, but I'm not the biggest Spiderman fan. I like it enough to see the movies, but I've always felt rather lukewarm towards the whole series in general. Can't get excited about it.

After seeing this new adaptation, and inevitably the first of a new series, I can say that this is probably better than its predecessors (I need to watch them again, but I'm 99% sure I'm right), and while I'm still not fangurling over Spidey, this movie makes me like it a bit more.

It's not without its flaws, of course. It occasionally falls into some way overused cliches and cheesiness, and it uses some of the same plot points that we saw before. I wish they had changed it so that it wasn't so predictable. When you're rebooting a franchise, you need to put a whole new stamp on it and make us forget that Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst were there first!

Ahem, anyway, there are plenty of positives. First of all, Andrew Garfield was perfect for…

Yay, more Inspector Lewis! We have four new episodes, and here is the first.

The body of a man obsessed with solving a riddle in a Lewis Carroll story is discovered buried in the woods, and his death is linked with the botanical gardens nearby. Who done it? His brother who is also his rival? The woman obsessed with finding out how her son died years ago? The doctor? One of the women at the botanical gardens?

This was a decent episode, but I rarely have any major issues with this series. They're pretty consistent, I would say. The only thing I would point out is that they, predictably, tried to set up Hathaway again with a new female character who probably won't be in the next episode. They never are. I wish they didn't feel the need to insert romance into almost every episode, as it's unnecessary and annoying. If they're going to get Hathaway a girlfriend, then fine, just get someone whom he has chemistry with and be done with it. Just let us get on with the murde…

I admit to being a fan of this series, and I also admit, without shame, to looking forward to each of the sequels as they came out, even though it always takes me awhile to get to them.

Unsurprisingly, this is the worst out of the three. That's not to say it's bad, it's just...nothing we haven't seen before. If you've watched the previous two, you'll note that they both give us the same scares at the same pace, the same characters types (i.e. one of them knows something bad is happening, the other one doesn't want to hear it, and they certainly try not to believe it until it gets to a certain point), and they end the same way. This prequel is no exception. It truly follows the same exact formula, although it does provide some scares.

It does amaze me how stupid the mother is in this. I mean her kids are in danger, and what does she do? She denies that anything weird is happening, then she blames her boyfriend, who is more concerned about her kids than she …

Oh, the joys of becoming obsessed with someone online, someone you have never met and probably never will.

This is the creepy true story of three people who communicate online and have never met, but who start a bitter love triangle that leads to one of their murders. First we have "Marinesniper" Thomas Montgomery, a 46 year-old married man with two young daughters and a boring job. He lives in New York. Then we have "talhotblond" Jessi, the hot 18 year-old graduate in West Virginia who he becomes obsessed with. And lastly, we have "Beefcake" Bobby, a much younger co-worker of Thomas'.

Thomas meets Jessi online, and their online friendship quickly turns romantic/sexual. Unfortunately for Jessi, Thomas isn't who he says he is. In fact, he's pretending to be "Tommy" a young marine who goes off to fight in Iraq. After Jessi finds out that she's been talking and cybersexing with a much older married man, she retaliates by getting in…

So here is the novel by Shamim Sarif. Please admire the picture I took.

"I Can't Think Straight" is about Tala, a Palestinian woman living in London who is engaged for the fourth time. She's also a closet lesbian. Hey, I wouldn't marry those three other dudes, either. Leyla is a British Indian lass who also lives in London. And she just so happens to be dating Tala's best friend, Ali. She's an in-the-closet lesbian, too. They meet, sparks fly, they bump uglies, then they separate because Tala insists she can't hurt her fiancee, and coming out to her family is a no-no because people just wouldn't understand it where she's from. Alright, fair enough.

I wanted this to be better, I really did. Unfortunately, Shamim Sarif manages to write a fairly shallow novel. She falls on the cliches that you'd hope she would have avoided. There's nothing original or gripping here, and the romance isn't fleshed-out enough to truly believe it. Okay, …

I should start off by telling you that I've never seen Glee, the show. I know, it's been on for years and it's da bomb, but, you know, I don't watch much TV. So there was really no logical reason for me to watch the movie. Sorry, "concert movie". Why not just call it Glee: Live in Concert? Anyway, I know very little about it in general, aside from being somewhat familiar with some of the actors.

So here's what I was thinking while watching this singfest:

1. These people can sing. Yay.

2. Heather Morris is rather awesome.

3. She was also lip-syncing during her performance of "Slave 4 U". I suppose you can brush it aside and say
it was the perfect ode to Britney Spears and her infamous lip-synciness.

4. But I'm also sure some of the other performances were mimed. Which I don't like.

5. There was definitely not enough attention put on the actors/characters. Unless I was watching some shortened version, but nah. I don't remember Dianna …

I think it's a testament to my laziness that it's taken me this long to post this review. That, and I have an old woman's memory, I truly do. So I'm lazy and can't remember to do things. Yay.

Once again, they do a rather amazing spin on this classic Sherlock Holmes story. It became clear to me pretty early on that there wouldn't be an actual waterfall involved during Sherlock and Moriarty's final meeting. I admit, I was slightly disappointed because that was such a classic setting, but what they ended up doing with it was brilliant, wasn't it? I mean wow. That is the kind of ending that will have the fans talking and speculating until they finally air the next season. My mom and I started discussing it right away, and I had a half-baked, not too terrible theory as to how Sherlock survived, and later on I read some other interesting theories. Some even suggested that Moriarty is still alive. I don't really believe that, but hey, …

The best reason to see this is for its top-notch cast, although that's not to say it isn't a charmer. Unfortunately, it is cliched, but if you can get past that and simply enjoy it for the cast and setting (India!), you'll be fine. It's not a bad way to spend two hours, and I enjoyed it.

I saw this on a Thursday and was surprised by how packed the theater was. Most of them were older folks. They even clapped at the end of the movie, which...never happens when I'm at the movies.

Also, while the whole cast is good, I have to pay special attention to Judi Dench, Bill Nighy, and Maggie Smith. Those are my three favorites. I also feel I need to mention the cute, unexpected (to me) romance at the end. Awwww. I love happy endings!

This was never going to be one of my favorite episodes, because, if I'm being honest, the "Baskerville" story has never lit my fire. It doesn't matter which series it is, which movie, it just lacks something. But that's just me. I know very well that this is one of the better-known books in the series, and there's a reason for that.

Still, this isn't a bad episode, but it failed to excite me, or really grab my attention. I also simply prefer this story in an old-fashioned setting with less extras to clog up a scene. It's set in the country, which I associate with fields and quiet, and sinister murder plots, not secret buildings filled with animals experiments and scientists.

Look, it's not going to leave a stamp on the world of rom-coms, but "This Means War" isn't a terrible movie. Its biggest offenses are being mediocre and cliche-ridden, which it truly is. You can see them coming. Lauren (Reese Witherspoon) runs into a hunky (more like average hunk) ex who is so damn happy with his beautiful fiance. They even ride bikes together like true lovers do. Oh, and of course this ex broke our heroine's heart and did it in a not-so-nice way (the prick cheated on her, and frankly she's too cute to be cheated on).

Then her sassy, nosy, pushy friend (Chelsea Handler, who I'll talk about later), signs her up on a dating site without her permission, and posts some questionable pictures of her, making her look like a grand ho. Great friend. Oh, but it does nab her a date with single father/CIA operative Tuck (Tom Hardy), which in turn leads her to meet his ladies man/CIA operative friend FDR (seriously?). She then begins dating them both…

I can see why this blew up the box office this past weekend. Dang. I love a good action movie, and when you have a handful of superheroes thrown into the mix, well, the result is this. Now think about it: this could have been a giant pile of horse manure, but the filmmakers managed to spin this into a great superhero movie that you won't soon forget.

It's cool that this came out only a year after "Thor" and "Captain America", so these two characters, at least, are fresh in the audience's minds, and it might even give people that final push to see this. You may remember that I liked "Thor" for the most part, and I was disappointed with "Captain", although it wasn't a complete dud.

Loki is the antagonist, like he was in "Thor", only he's more villainous this time around, and his hair is even more fugtastic this year. *Sigh* This makes me happy. I love me some Tom Hiddleston.

*Big smiley face* Sherlock is back! Woot! I'm happy now that mystery season is back in full swing. For Sherlock, they've lined up some of his most famous cases. I'm always interested in how they spin these tales and make them their own in modern times.

This takes place immediately after last season's finale. Irene Adler puts her stamp on the series, matching wits with Sherlock and almost beating the detective at his own game, but she's never quite as clever as he is, and she's not abnormal enough to outdo him, if you know what I mean.

I remember the version of this episode in the Jeremy Brett series. It was one of my brother's least favorite episodes because it posed the question/possibility, what have you, of Sherlock falling in love. That simply isn't Sherlock, hence why the idea is unpleasant to swallow. They do the same thing here, naturally. But Sherlock really isn't the type to fall in love, and I'm not saying this because he's asexua…

I feel as if I should have seen this before, but it somehow managed to escape my notice. But hey, I found it! Great premise, too: Kathleen Turner as a picture-perfect wife and mother, living in a nice house in a nice neighborhood. She's also insane and likes to kill people over the smallest matters. She has a talent for murder, but not, sadly, for covering her tracks. The thought of wearing gloves or wiping fingerprints doesn't even cross her mind.

The first half of this is the strongest. After she gets arrested, it loses some of its humor and charm, though it doesn't completely fall flat. Good ending, as well.

Ricki Lake plays her daughter, Misty. It's easy to forget about her acting days, especially when you haven't seen her in anything...like me. I liked her in this, and may I say that it was refreshing to have a chubby young actress instead of a typical, thin, dime-a-dozen actress?

An element I always appreciate in every genre is humor, and what a great way to boost a horror film! This movie ends up being quite freaky/gory, with a dash of humor, often provided by my favorite character, Marty, the pot smoker who realizes that he and his friends are just puppets in an elaborate massacre ala your typical horror movie. You don't find out why they're being set-up and manipulated in an "Evil Dead"-like scenario until later on, but you do see the people working behind the scenes to ensure they all play their "parts". That is: the slut, the jock, the nerd, the fool, and the virgin (even though she's totally not a virgin).

I was happy where this ended up going. I thought I knew how it was going to end after a certain point, but then it went in a surprising (to me, at least) and pleasing direction. Not what I expected of this film! It's nicely cast, as well.
Bottom line: if you're at all into horror, you should see this.
My grade…

Three sisters go batshit crazy when they find out their gay younger brother is marrying a woman, thus inheriting the family hotel in Portugal that they all covet. None of them are entirely happy with their lives. One sister is screwing another sister's husband, an ugly man who is supposedly quite seductive. She's the most unlikable of the bunch, though none of them are terribly likable.

This is a comedy, but it just wasn't funny. And the only characters I came close to liking were the gay brother and his lady love, who I actually wanted to get the hotel, even though that was the only reason they were getting married. It's just not easy liking a movie when you can't root for the main characters. Add to that some ridiculous goings-on near the end, and this film is a fail for me.

This is a good year for movies, at least if the sneak peek we've gotten is any indication. Here's to hoping they don't disappoint!

Here's a short list of movies I'm looking forward to. I probably won't get to see them all in theaters. Boo! I need to get rich, I know. I'm working on it! Feel free to let me know what movies you're anticipating in 2012.

In order of release dates:

Cabin in the Woods: April 13th I can't wait!

The Avengers: May 4th This better be good, am I right?

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel: May 4th The Best reason to see this is the cast, I believe. I just can't resist these amazing actors and actresses. Of course it looks funny and charming, as well. I think it'll be good.

The Dictator: May 11th Alright, so far I haven't been overly fond of Sacha Baron Cohen's previous film's. I'm crossing my fingers that this will be his best yet.

Isn't it a relief when a movie you sincerely want to be good doesn't disappoint? But I admit, I wasn't worried about "The Hunger Games". I've heard good reports, although nothing too raving. I estimated my grade for it before I saw it. Amazing, right? I guessed a "B". Was I off? Yes.

For the most part, I can't complain about this adaptation. The cast is great, and I'm impressed with Jennifer Lawrence. I'm happy that there's a young actress out there who is talented, capable of carrying a role like this, and likable. And Katniss is not a character you want to miscast. I feel as if we need more strong female heroines who save the day, rather than a man always being the hero. So, I'm happy to say that she was right to play Katniss. I also like that Katniss is not perfect, and that she, like everyone else, needs help. She saves people, but they also save her, and that's the way it should be. Never forget to be realistic, eh?

As someone who grew up watching "The Borrowers", that lovely British gem from the early 90s starring Ian Holm and Penelope Wilton, I had to see this anime take on the children's novels by Mary Norton.

And boy was I disappointed!

I'm surprised that I'm even admitting this. This is a movie I genuinely believed would be above average for me. Perhaps is has to do with the ratings it has received, and I think anime generally gets praise. It's a thing. But more importantly, (and do take note of this before criticizing me for criticizing this) since I did grow up with that other lovely series, I've been spoiled, and nothing can outdo it. My standards were raised a long time ago.

So allow me to rundown the reasons why I am so disappointed with this adaptation:

(1) The Japanese stamp is certainly visible. While I wouldn't normally view that as a flaw, "The Borrowers" is a purely British tale. The characters, the setting, everything. The s…

Alright, I have been wanting to see this since before it hit movie theaters last year, despite the bad reviews. It's good to watch movies with lowered expectations, though, don't you think?

I can see where this would be confusing. We begin with Babydoll's (Emily Browning) mother having recently died, leaving everything to her two daughters. Unfortunately, they're also left with their evil step-father, who's ticked that his wife didn't leave him any money. He gets drunk and decides to take his revenge out on his step-daughters, locking Babydoll in her room and going after her little sister. But Babydoll escapes and manages to get to them before he does anything. She aims a gun at the bastard and shoots, but rather than killing her step-father, she accidentally kills her sister. And thus the step-father has an excuse to throw her into a loony bin. With one daughter dead and another deemed crazy (via bribery, of course), he now has control of their inh…

This isn't one that I really wanted to see. It probably has a lot to do with my hatred of animal abuse and experimentation, and the concept bores me, to be honest. Do we need a "Planet of the Apes" prequel, or whatever this was intended to be? Andy Serkis is great as Caesar, but he's great in everything I've seen him in so far. He's a good reason to watch this. Oh, and I was happy that I didn't hate James Franco. To me, he's overrated as an actor, and he shines in certain roles (such as Pineapple Express) over other ones (Spiderman), but he was good in this. Nothing special, but nothing to complain about. Freida Pinto is as lovely as ever, but completely wasted. Her character is fairly useless, probably meant for eye-candy duty more than anything. And Tom Felton shows up as a villain, surprise, surprise. Don't get me wrong, he's good at it, but I hope he doesn't get typecast as different versions of Draco Malfoy from now on. I wish this had…

Last Day Of Summer: It's not a bad plot; a young man who was mistreated at work, and in life, it seems, plans to shoot-out his former place of employment. He buys the gun, walks into the dumpy diner, fantasizes about shooting everyone dead, and is close to actually doing it. Then he sees a purdy young woman, Nikki Reed, whom I like in this, and they exchange "a look", and thus his plans completely change. He follows her out of the diner, asks her out, and...gets rejected. Already in a messed up state of mind, he kidnaps her.

There's too much toilet humor, for one, and it isn't really funny when it tries to be. I suppose my main problem is that it fails to be truly gripping, despite the good plot. It has some worthy moments, however, and you can always watch it simply for the core issue. Maybe if some bullies watched this, they'd think twice about being such a-holes...yeah, they'd probably still be a-holes.

Wow, I've actually seen two movies up for Oscars this years. That's just unheard of.

For the most part, "The Artist" is a very decent film with a good, charming cast. It's s cute story, and very nostalgic, but it gets bogged down a bit with George's depression and downward spiral. If they had cut some of that and added more of the charm and optimism that it had in the beginning, it would have been better off.

Well, this certainly ended on a happy note! Mostly, that is. Bates' life was spared, but he was still sentenced to life in prison. I imagine they'll fix that next season, however. I took that weird scene with Anna and Daisy at the Ouija board to be a direct hint at a resolution to the Bates dilemma. Heck, maybe it even had something to do with Daisy's future happiness. That was a little silly, wasn't it? Also, am I the only one who isn't a big Bates fan? He's alright, sure, but I never liked him a great deal. I suppose it's the way he's written, and all the self-sacrificing he's made to do, like a martyr. Ugh. And perhaps Brendan Coyle isn't the best actor. I first saw him in "North and South" a couple of years ago. I should re-watch that and have another look.
Mary finally got rid of Richard at the urging of Matthew and her father. Everyone was against the marriage, it seemed, and once Cora revealed Mary's "disgra…

It's such a lovely thing that you can almost always depend on a George Clooney movie to be good. Not that all of his movies have been winners, but many of them have been safe bets. "The Descendants" is no exception. It's a pleasant mixture of drama and humor, not to mention good acting, which is nice considering all of the mediocre/bad acting I've been witnessing in movies.

Clooney plays Matt King, the descendant of Hawaiian royalty (I bet you can relate to that, am I right?), whose wife is in a coma after a boating accident. They have two daughters, Scottie, a young troublemaker, and Alexandra, a rebellious teen with issues, one of them being her mother. After learning that his wife isn't going to recover after all, Matt brings Alex home from boarding school, trying to prepare everyone for the upcoming tragedy. What he doesn't expect is Alex's revelation that her mother was having an affair.